Player Previews: The Power Forwards

Media day was filled with a variety of images — the new (Keith Smart as head coach, Andris Biedrins’ tightly-cropped coif), the familiar (Stephen Curry’s wide smile, Brandan Wright’s skinny frame), and the surreal (Monta Ellis in a Santa suit). For me, however, one image rose above them all: David Lee and Andris Biedrins, shoulder-to-shoulder, as the best post duo the Warriors have seen in years. Granted, that’s not saying much. But as the Warriors start the process of finding their new identity as a team, the 4 and the 5 are due for the most significant overhaul. With Keith Smart now in charge, the Warriors are looking to add some power to the power forward spot.

Something strange happened for the Warriors the last two Aprils. After favoring small line-ups for most of the regular season, with no more than one big on the court at a time, the April teams — whether due to injuries, being out of contention, or both — started to go big. The Aprils of both years marked the highest combined minute total for the Warriors legitimately sized 4/5 combos. In April 09, Randolph and Biedrins combined for an average of 60 minutes a night. In April 10, Tolliver and Turiaf combined for the same. [Interestingly enough, those April teams also won games -- 4-4 in 2009, 5-3 in 2010.]

For the power forwards, the impact of being paired with another big body rather than being stranded alone with four smalls, was dramatic. Randolph turned in his best month as a pro in April 09, averaging 15.1 points and 10.6 rebounds. Tolliver also logged his career best a year later, going for 15.5 points and 8.9 rebounds a night. With a little luck, these types of numbers from the 4 spot should now be a nightly expectation for the Warriors.

Gone are the days of Acie Law or Devean George holding down the power spot. The three players below bring real size and skills to the position. There are plenty of questions — and, if injuries continue, there’s not a lot of depth — but the blend of experience and potential is tremendous. If these three come close to living up to expectations, power forward may be transformed from arguably the Warriors’ least productive position per 48 minutes to its most.

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David Lee

What he did — Lee turned in a career year (20.2 points, 11.7 rebounds) on a bad team and cashed in big with the Warriors’ sign-and-trade deal. Larry Riley gave up a lot to land Lee (as Riley made clear on media day, the decision was his), but it’s undeniable that he brings a lot to the table. He’s a relentless defensive rebounder, a sure bet around the basket and one of the League’s best pick-and-roll players. Whatever potential Anthony Randolph possessed (a lot, in my opinion), there’s no debating that Lee is the surer thing right now. Time will tell whether the trade was a good long-term move, but it’s one that should provide an immediate boost to the team.

What I’m hoping for — A lot likely will be made of Lee’s stats this year (Is he matching last year’s scoring? Rebounding?), but I’m far more interested in the stuff that doesn’t show up in the box score. Lee has the reputation of being a great hustle guy, a relentless source of energy and a good teammate. As a veteran — albeit a new one — he’ll have a lot of power to set the tone for the season. If he can bring a hard-working intensity to the squad on both ends of the court, it’ll be a big boost. With a newly assembled and relatively inexperienced team, the Warriors are likely to struggle at times and ride a rollercoaster of momentum. Lee needs to serve as a stabilizing influence — both on the court, by giving the team a reliable pick-and-roll option and denying opponents second chance points, and in the locker room, by keeping the team unified even when things get rough. It’s a lot to ask for, but with what Lee’s getting paid he needs to rise to the challenge.

The big question — Can Lee succeed at both ends of the court? By Lee’s own admission, he needs to improve his defense. Moving him to his natural position of power forward should help a lot, reducing the likelihood that he’s over-powered, but he also needs to improve fundamentals like early positioning, footwork and team-defense awareness. It’s not often that players suddenly become defensive powerhouses at age 27, but as a heady player Lee should be able to use his experience in the league to refine his game. We don’t need him to be a great defender — just not a bad one.

Brandan Wright

What he did –Wright busted his shoulder a year ago, spent the 09-10 season getting paid a few million for the best seat in the house (the bench), and couldn’t log two full summer league games before being pulled over medical concerns. That season of utter disappointment comes after 39 and 38 game campaigns in his first two years. Despite all the injuries, strength issues and up-and-down rotations, Wright did once upon a time manage to show intriguing talent. In his last month of NBA competition (March 2009), he averaged 9.9 points and 5.1 rebounds in just over 20 minutes a night. Adjusted per 48 minutes, Wright’s productivity during that stretch holds up well when compared to the hyper-efficiency of David Lee (23.8 points, 12.2 rebounds vs. 26 points, 15 rebounds). Of course, assuming 48 minutes for Wright is like assuming the existence of cold fusion to solve America’s energy problems. It would be great, but we’re a little short on proof at the moment.

What I’m hoping for — Any hope for Wright beyond “health” is premature, but I’ll indulge in a little optimism. If Wright can stay healthy and gain confidence in a consistent second-or-third-guy-off-the-bench role, he has the potential to be a highly efficient change-of-pace scorer. Paired with a strong center like Amundson, Wright can be protected a bit on defense. On offense, he can slash past guys with his deceptive quickness and extend over them with his still-stunning length. He’s been working on a mid-range jumper than would add a nice piece to his game and his touch around the basket has always been soft. For a second unit that lacks any scoring punch other than Reggie Williams, the Warriors need to get some offensive production from Wright.

The big question — Will Wright’s health issues derail his NBA career? He’s still just 22, so this talk is a bit premature, but he’s also about to finish off his rookie contract. If Wright can demonstrate an ability to play above 50 or 60 games this year, he’s going to be hard pressed to land anything beyond a minimum deal on the market next year. There’s no reason Wright can’t gradually add to his frame and have a long, fully healthy NBA career. But some players just have bodies that can’t take the nightly pounding of the NBA. This season will likely show whether Wright falls into that unfortunate category.

Ekpe Udoh

What he did — Udoh turned in workmanlike numbers for Baylor (13.9 points, 9.8 rebounds), while serving as a defensive force. If he can carry those defensive skills into the NBA, he’ll be a nice addition to the Warriors rotation still in need of lock-down individual defenders. He’s saddled with the honor of being the sixth pick in what most consider a five-player draft, and didn’t help his cause by not disclosing a post-workout, pre-draft injury that will keep him out of the mix until 2011. Despite all the reasons to write off Udoh early (he was drafted by the same man that brought you Bryant “Big Country” Reeves at the same pick), he fits three needs (defense, rebounding, shot-blocking) and may follow in the footsteps of other older draftees in being able to make a more immediate impact on the team — once, of course, he’s actually able to play with them.

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What I’m hoping for — Defense, defense, defense. Lee and Wright will be defensive liabilities against most opposing power forwards, so the Warriors’ rookie may find himself come January the team’s best defender at the 4 (I’m counting Amundson as a 5). Udoh doesn’t currently carry the weight to be an NBA-level low-post banger, but with some time on a regimented weight program, his frame looks like it could bulk up. If he can be a blue-collar, shot-blocking, glass-cleaning energy guy, he’ll fit nicely with the team. That type of player isn’t worth the sixth pick in the draft, but it’s too late for that debate.

The big question — Can he find a way to contribute sooner rather than later. Usually I’m all about patience for big men, but at 23 — 24 in May — Udoh is nearly the same age as Andris. The Warriors’ rookie will be 27 by the time he comes off his first deal. There’s not the same margin for error that young big men have when finding their way in the NBA. But the Warriors need Udoh to fill a role immediately not just because he’s old, but because the power forward position is still potentially shallow if Wright goes down with an injury. Although it’s great to dream of two-big-men-at-all-times squads right now, we could very easily find ourselves with Biedrins and Amundson as our only two reliable post players.

The question of power forward depth — or lack thereof — may dictate who lands the last roster spot on the team. Former UConn power forward Jeff Adrien is a rebounding specialist, albeit an undersized one, and has been working out with the team for the past few weeks. Early reports from camp are that he’s holding his own. Adding to the intrigue is the recent report from Marcus Thompson that the Warriors also may be in the market for a back-up point guard. If there are serious concerns about current depth in the front court, it’s conceivable that the final roster spot could become a toss-up between Jeremy Lin and other point guard invitees. The fifteenth roster spot isn’t that important to the team’s success, but it’ll make for an interesting storyline through camp and the preseason.

Ultimately, the Warriors find themselves in the new position of using the often-uttered “potential” only to describe the back-up power forwards, not the starter. David Lee still needs to answer the biggest question of them all — can he help this team win more games — but his arrival immediately put to rest the seemingly omnipresent doubts over consistent production from the power forward spot.

Adam Lauridsen

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Anyway, hopefully Smart will insert BWright at SF to defend bigger SFs. So, we will see how does as SF.

Kommon Senze

And actually, Ellis does most of his dishing off on drives. He doesn’t pass well in other situations (i.e., he doesn’t set up weakside motion and he can rely too heavily on screens at times), but he’s a classic drive and dish PG. That’s irrelevant, though. The point is, he provides the biggest threat to penetrate other than Curry. If Curry gets doubled or trapped, Curry can swing the ball to Ellis on the weakside, and he can take advantage of the opened up lane better than anybody on the team. That threat spreads the defense out and can force them to play honest. Having real post threats will do that even more, and that’s why having someone like Lee should help in that regard.

Williams is a good facilitator, and I really like his potential to be a good 6th man. Right now, though, there’s no reason to force him into the lineup as a starter. Not with what Smart is supposedly wanting to emphasize in terms of motion offense. The 2nd unit will need a guy who can be a good facilitator, anyway, so he’d be better suited helping to lead that group than being the ‘scoring’ guard in the starting lineup.

http://GoldenStateWarriorsStateofmind Frank

I think we should revist whether D. Wright or B. Wright, is better at playing SF, both offensively and defensively, after training camp and pre-season games are played. I think that B. Wright might surprise. I just hope both play well. We will see if D. Wright or B. Wright has a better adjusted field goal shooting percentage which is a big factor in deciding who is better offensively.

Kommon Senze

Agreed. As I stated early on in this debate, Frank, we can’t make final determinations until we see how they do in game situations. But, at the outset, to suggest Brandon Wright is better suited with no access to his practices, directly, and only your fan-based observations as a guide, is penny wise and pound foolish. He may prove to be a good SF in the future, but, right now, it’s waaaay too early to be penciling him in as a starter above a young, equally (if not more) athletic, and equally long player who actually has experience playing the SF position.

meir34

KS-why you have chosen to be so hateful I can only imagine. I’m writing off the top of my head from 54-57 years later. I did what I said I did and I never claimed as you lied that I played at UCLA or was an Assistant Coach and you know that. I coached an AAA AAAU team that was mostly UCLA Frosh and I was young. Long reason for that but the more significant fact is that a presumably grown man lies, and goes to such great lengths to try and defame an older guy on his list. Look in the mirror and ask yourself why? It’s a real, as my wife reading all this just said, sick puppy thing to do.

Phone the U of Minnesota and see if I was on the poli sci faculty there beginning in as I recall Sept of 1964, right after teaching the Philippines Peace Corp Training program at SFSU. My teaching at FSU and UCD and then SFSU, where I was also Principle Investigator of The Innovative Learning Project of the Chancellors Office, but stationed at SFSU in Dean Pentony’s Office, approx 71-75. Then Director of the Mideast Peace Research Institute in Berkeley until it ended in 93. All of my other items I have given enough information that they can be easily verified. Instead lies and insults. Actually in retirement, I also came out to take the place of someone at Laney College in the Computer and Information Sciences program in that year. They should have my whole academic vitae. But why should you give a damn? Why should anyone here be subjected to being called the names I have? Why the others that you guys have done that to? It’s a clear m.o., and a very sick one. Or better yet why has Adam let his blog become this?

You are right about one thing though, in writing on the fly I confused two teams I worked with. Gary Baker was a Frosh, I’m guessing 53, latest 54 and Nauls a semester before. BTW, not that he’s any big deal or was then, he was the starting pg on UCLA’s Freshman team, and though you put him down as well, not that I’ve seen him in how long? But he was a very nice player. All conference and second team all city in LA and starter on a great UCLA Freshman team. As I recall his second year he was playing around 6-8th man and got and played hurt and that’s the last I recall of the guy.

But you M.O. is to put people down. Nellie is shit. Imagine you a real piece of shit, and I wonder what you have ever accomplished, knock and attack and insult a 70 yr old guy that holds the record for most wins for any coach in the NBA, three time Coach of the Year and brought us an end to two separate droughts of long term playoff absence.

Yeah his teams stunk the past two years and no doubt KS you could have made winners of that bunch. But a Great Coach to have insults from a total PUNK big mouthed Liar like you is really too much.

But you aren’t alone here. Yet I have no answer to my wife who says why are you staying on this blog and letting a bunch of losers insult you this way it’s your choice. She knows my competitive nature and to be run off as it were, as the only alternative to lies and shit from sickos is the only thing that has kept me on here. Obviously an exchange of ideas isn’t in the cards for many of you.

She’s right, of course, and so congratulate yourselves. You insulted a 76 year old man with more accomplishments in his life than I really would be surprised of any of you insecure types. And he left rather than waste his life here even in small bit.

I will return, time to time, however to remind you all of Curry v Melo’s performances when relevant, by posting reminder statistics. Maybe, if he stays healthy, even Monta v Curry. I also will do my damnedest to figure an appropriate way to find a de jure result for each here who has engaged in such sick behavior.

No one btw has answered how if Monta takes so many shots, why are his shots taken totally in the same range as the top six scorers for years? And if he simply won’t pass off how come his assist numbers were so high, almost as high as the great passer, pg he played alongside. Indeed, until he got injured later in the season he led him all year in assists per game.

But we won’t answer that. We’ll insult and lie and set up false straw soldiers, knock them down, insult some more, denigrate someone’s nice accomplishments, to build up our own sense of worth to inject a moment’s fix into one’s own weak egos. And lie about the players we don’t like as well. But sickest of all is to go and post again under new pseudo names self-congratulations and reinforced insults.

BTW, the reason Coach John let me actually be a player coach, though I only put myself in when a game was well in hand, and mostly not then, as I wasn’t in the same league as those guys, was two fold: 1) I’d helped recruit another Jewish Player who made All Coast while I was still yet younger. You KS seem to have some UCLA link that I don’t but you can easily find him, his initials are AA. As well as one who took second in the NCAA’s in Free Exercise as a true Freshman for UCLA, I believe it was 1955 Spring season. As well as one I. Bass, whom Coach John wanted to play for UCLA, the same fellow who Sidney Wickes a decade later broke his high school scoring record at Hamilton, and who also played on our team and I was very influential with. He didn’t play as he was a physics major and didn’t have time, later transferred, as I did, to UCB, and lost a year of eligibility which effectively ended whatever talk there was of him. I got to know Pete Newell and was allowed in to all the team practices because of my influence with Larry Friend, and his coming from LA to Cal, who was the best player at UCB in his time, again from memory but somewhere around 56-58 must have been the time he graduated. Give or take a year as I’m doing this from memory and it’s a very long time ago.

So what does all this mean? It means I’m a decent human who has been respected in most places I’ve been and denigrated here. Even my Judaism, astonishingly has been attacked and insulted by JSL. Very funny, this non-Jew is telling a guy he doesn’t know that he doesn’t know his own Judaism. For what it’s worth, totally gratuitously, My son-in-law, Rabbi Abrams, is Rabbi of the largest Reform synagogue in his area, it used to be in N. Plainfield, NJ but is now rebuilding in Fan Wood, neighborhood changes, changed the demographics of the Congregation over the years. My daughter-in-law is a Nationally known Educator, does the same at her synagogue, is the author of several Jewish books for very young people, and has written much of the Reform Movement’s Curriculum. My wife, Linda Wolf, ran the Hebrew department at the largest synegogue in Ventura, also reform, just prior to moving here, has a fairly recent book out on Teaching Learning Disabled Children to become Bat and Bar Mitzvah, and the help to their and their families self-esteem that doing so produces, and I helped start the Jewish Renewal Movement, as a founding father of the Aquarian Minyan in Berkely. As a guy whom JSL amazingly found wanting in his knowledge of Judaism, himself not even being a Jew, and probably not even knowing Hebrew, I regularly for years helped lead the High Holiday Services there in Berkeley, at The Unitarian Church, which we rented out yearly back in our hey day because of so many attendees. Before that I was an integral member of House of Love and Prayer in San Francisco, with the late great Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, Z’tl, and was honored to be known as a hassid of his. But JSL could insult this. Which like most of the insults here, to me and to others, speaks more to the poster’s own problems; It’s laughable, actually. As I’ve said before, even the editor of the Left Jewish Magazine, found even in Barnes and Noble, Tikkun, Rabbi Michael Lerner can vouch for my Bay Area involvement. Indeed we’ve been on panels together discussing Middle East Politics, in former years. Or Rabbi Zaslow of the Congregation Shir Hadash up here, where in retirement for a short whiile I was Administrator. But don’t let reality get in the way of a sick need to try and debase and disprove any of this. Most important as I noted, look in the mirror and ask yourselves why, why are you doing this and posting such hateful stuff????? And, to people Nellie and My own ages. Is there no decency among you? Wasn’t that part of the values you were brought up with? If not, perhaps you were victims yourselves of deprived upbringing and should get my sympathies not my contumely.

And don’t answer by my vitriolic in RESPONSE to many hateful posts. Don’t play the innocent. At least not with yourselves, alone in your room, looking into that mirror.

http://chriscohansucks.blogspot.com/ Chris Cohan

Holy shit meir.
You have to stop.

http://chriscohansucks.blogspot.com/ Chris Cohan

Frank and feltbot/Kommon Senze too.

Udoh and the team lied.
The end.

Kiko

Meir34

You are full of shit on top of your head.
It’s the age of Wikipedia and Google nowadays.

Quit on your LIES and BULLSHIT Martin Hausser!!!

meir34

One final note. Willie Naulls did play in 53-54 and to my memory Gary Baker played either that year or the year later. I vaguely recall Willie as being my age so I’m not sure what happened. Maybe he went to a JC or graduated from h.s. late. I’m vague on exact times from then, but I graduated h.s. in ’52. Baker, I think was ’53 hs grad, but I could be off on a year or a semester. But Willie I’m remembering as then because that year Coach Red Sanders led the ULCLA Football team to an undefeated season and my friend Jim Salisbury was an all american who played with Jack Elena on that team and I’m recalling Naulls young there then too.

michaeld

“And if he simply won’t pass off how come his assist numbers were so high, almost as high as the great passer, pg he played alongside. Indeed, until he got injured later in the season he led him all year in assists per game.”

Because whether he was listed as PG on the lineup card or not, he completely dominated the ball for 40 minutes a night.

monsta

Crazy as bat shit.

The Oracle

Meir,
I’m probably the last one to give anyone advice on here, admittedly. But here goes. I’ve always liked you in a strange way, a fiesty older guy, a boxing history, but I will admit that I don’t normally read any of your longer posts or argue points with you, so I’m not offended by your posts not in the least part because I skip over them. No offense to others that disagree with you and feel they have cause. I really don’t read much of the back and forth. You seem like a good guy to me overall and I have no problme with you, but again, I’ve never gotten into it with you ether. That said:

Your history and accomplishments suggest a wonderful life of accomplishment and of interesting people and places. But this blog is the wrong place to recount them. Or argue them. An 800 page book seems more appropriate, and imo would probably be a very interesting read of a very interesting life. But not on here. You shouldn’t be arguing your own accomplishments with others on here, in hundreds of words and posts, even if they do engage and disrespect you. You know who you are and what you’ve done. This is not the place or the time.

Try to keep the talk to basketball, and specifically the W’s when you post. I know I break this rule occassionaly, but you seem to break it quite often.

And brievity is an amazing and appreciate skill on a blog. One thing I admired about cohan the blogger before he went nuts about Curry is how he could make a great point in one or two lines. Try to make your points in a few lines and your will find more people reading your posts. The other trick is to try to stick to one thought per post.

Again, I’ve broken all the rules, embarassed myself at times getting into passionate but childlike argumets with people. So take my two cents or not but from someone who really has nothing against you and is only trying to help. And granted, others may have done and said things that you felt were wrong or inappropriate too, but I’m only giving you my two cents, a day after your 76th birthday. Or choose to ignore it completely. What do I know anyway?!

meir34

Thank you Kiko whomever you are. In this day of Wikipedia probably 95% of books, writers and history aren’t in it. You should try additional sources. They may not teach you how to use a library any more. But surely you know of the battle Google had trying to get academic articles on line, and failed.

Try looking up the name I mentioned above, Dean DeVere Pentony, who besides authoring a series of readers on Communist Foreign Policies, co-authored Unfinished Rebellions the ultimate authoritative book on the riots of the 60′s, that being the Black Studies shutdown of SFSU that propelled Hayakawa into the Presidency of SFSU and later parlayed into a right wing candidacy that successfully got him elected Senator from Califonria. (actually two books) Here’s the citation and the book is available online: “Unfinished rebellions, by DeVere Pentony, Robert Smith. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1971. He was a three sport all state athlete in Iowa, his Phd overlapped Nelson’s first years, I believe, and he was long time Dean of Behavioral and Social Sciences at SF State and just as a quick test to make the point, I can’t find him in Wikipedia.

You should learn the great absences of information in Wikipedia, to say nothing of the errors. I myself have changed data in Wikipedia probably a hundred times, because of factual errors. What a shame that students think if it’s not in Wikipedia it doesn’t exist. Ditto if you can’t find it on Google. To those who are used to real research it’s both funny and a crying shame and commentary on the kinds of education given now.

meir34

Oh yes, Wikipedia has nothing on him, at least when I searched the other day.

meir34

One S, jsl/ks/TH dba Kiko

Kiko

Intellius, Martin Hausser.

meir34

Oracle they wouldn’t come up but for the posts calling me a liar for having ever said them. But I’m taking my wife’s advice, and thanks for yours, and leaving here except for the posts reminding people about Curry, Melo and Ellis, however that works out, btw. This long post is the result of KS and others’ insulting ones accusing me of lying and I’m giving them enough information that if they have any desire to find truth and not make up lies they can. Consider them my farewell posts. So that detailed clarification was in order. If KS hadn’t made his posts accusing them as lies, I would have had no need to do it.

I wonder if KS will dare to follow up or his buddies JSL and JT and Al Oha, assuming, perhaps falsely, that they are indeed separate people, and apologize here publicly for his false lies and insults? Not likely, I’d suppose.

Jules

KS,

For the early part of this season, VR & DG’s biggest value to our team, if they both remain healthy and injury free, is their ability to spell relief to our starters at key junctions of each game, and hopefully keeping our big starters’ MPGs at around 30-35 mpg.

No matter how much better AB is in TC, the fact remains he just overcame major stomach surgery and that has to be allowed to recover its usual banger minutes underneath but surely – crucial! DG’s healthy and will be a great help for AB, and Lou’s sore back issue now may heal in time, but as of now, that is a minor issue. A healthy transition into normal playing capacity is what’s our primary concern is, given our #1 status in NBA injury minutes last season. VR can also help in the PF relief… so, let just hope for a healthy squad first and foremost, and then the skills can come back in due payback.

FWIW:

BW’s future is as a versatile PF, and with the improvement of his sweet jump hook, he will be most effective in the paint. His mid range has shown improvement from practice vids and from years ago… but since he’s been out most of his career, this year, his main task would be to stay healthy and to contribute measurably, incrementally, and reintroduce his healed body into battle shape for the entire season.

If he finishes the season without any injury, and hovers close to a double-double in points and rebounds, with shot changing defensive presence… I’d call that a success. The onus is on him and he’s also playing for a contract extension.

PG Backup:

I still would like us to try and get Curtis Stinson from the D-League to provide Curry with the type of true PG-ability Stinson has been known to have. He is a big true point guard and just needs to be signed and be done with it.

Frank, everyone likes RWilliams, he’s a terrific player. If the Ws traded Ellis, Williams would step in and do a great job.

But Ellis is a rare talent. Someone who can consistently cut to the rim and finish is pretty rare — he may not be the second-best player in the league, but he’s among the elite players.

Williams, for all his skills and the really nice way he’s developed, isn’t there. Especially the driving to the rim, which really disrupts the other team and takes the starch out of them. That’s Ellis’ biggest skill, and it’s not something you can overlook.

No coach in the NBA would bench Ellis to get some kind of benefit from him as a sixth man. Not one coach. Maybe when he gets closer to retirement, though….

JT

Just fucking leave. You ARE a liar, and a despicable human being. You’re a piece of shit, and this blog will be a much, much better place without you.

monsta

so bizarre, this meir stuff. I don’t read any of it anymore (Thank you Dave in LA, it’s the 1-step program!) and i don’t read posts where people respond to him, but omg. It’s like sitting next to someone on the bus who’s soiled himself.

Kiko

Fuck yourself Meir34.

monsta

jules, don’t we already have too many players, even with Udoh off the roster for now?

And I know Ellis, Lin and Bell are combos, but that seems just fine when Curry needs a break, it worked fine last year, sometimes Lin could handle it, sometimes Ellis — like having a shifty running back come in for your bruiser sometimes, it can throw off the other team, not knowing who to focus on.

Didn’t I see Stinson play in SL for the Ws? Might have been against the Ws, I’m not sure. But that was definitely a couple/few years ago — he’s played D league for awhile?…

http://4coachinthehisrtoryoftheNBA jsl

Meir: Two Board “resignations” in one thread? How ’bout three?

Oh, and on the “lying” theme of yours, are you yet ready to cop to your Nene lies — made worse by the stridency of your protestations and denials — where you were given five separate cites of you discussing him as a potential part of your never-ending Curry-for-Melo lunacies? No? Thought not; no cojones to own up to your “misstatements”.

And, as for the book-length fantasy, self-preening, pocket “autobiographies” on each and every thread, how ’bout a little lesson from Sherlock Holmes (Conan Doyle, really):

All we are saying in response to your endless lies and name-calling idiocies is that you’ve made us converts to anti-Meirism.

Hardly the same thing, Bozo.

http://4coachinthehisrtoryoftheNBA jsl

KS: Though I see more in BW than most, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head in your back-and-forth with Frank.

For present purposes, anyway, BW (whose strengths and weaknesses you enumerate well) is MUCH more valuable to us off the bench. He’ll bring quickness, energy, low-post moves, weak-side D (his blocking out looks to be much improved).

I don’t know enough about DWright yet, but from what I’ve seen he has the length and savvy to fit in perfectly as a three — and he seems to have two developing talents of great import to good SFs: he can now shoot the three — and got pretty good at that pretty fast last year — and he sees passing lanes well. (Meaning we’ve got a nice passing team with Curry, Lee, AB, DW, and even Monta from the drives, as you note. This really facilitates up-tempo play.)

And as for RW, I also like him coming off the bench. In my mind, he could be a Vinnie Johnson type; a guy who can bring instant offense either with his shooting or driving. And we now have the passers to get him the ball in space. (Boy, would AM have loved to play on this team; but as sweet as his shot is, he’s still way too one-dimensional for this team in its present state.)

And, for me anyway, it matters little who starts; I want to see who our finishers are. Right now, it looks like the starting five will also be the finishing five, but it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out over the first 20 games or so.

Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised to see both Lee and BW on the floor at the end — but with DWright, not AB (unless the guy starts hitting 60% of his FTs). This wouldn’t be the ’89 nPistons, but it’d be a much better group of defenders — and with the capacity to RB — than we’ve seen here in years and years.

Still, as others have opined, the real key at first, anyway, will be how well AB comes back. If he’s in 2008 form, we should be in pretty good shape. My hope is that he’ll be even better, what with a better group of “team” mates around him.

The second key? Will Smart stick to his guns re rotations, and limit his players to about 36 mpg? If he does, two benefits immediately become apparent: first, guys can now play both ends, because they won’t die in Q4 as they have for years; second, a nine-10 guy rotation really helps build a sense of camaraderie and team — something sorely lacking since We Believe (which used a larger rotation than we’ve seen since).

If Beans is back and the guys get enough rest to bring it on both ends at all times, we’ve got enough talent to play pretty well.

Here’s hoping!

Jules

monsta,

We have 13 players under contract, according to Shamsports, and we’ll need 15 before season starts.

We have 19 in TC, 6 invitees who eventually will fill-in 1 or 2 of the remaining contract slots for our season.

So, question is: Who will those 2 be?

I hear your argument for our pseudo PGs, but what if Curry gets injured? Then what? Who can fill in the pg role?

My concern is that let’s make one of those two remaining slots a true pg safety net to cover Curry, just in case, and let’s make that a Stinson hire.

The other remaining player can be our last remaining need at SF.

That makes 15.

believewhat

Ws need a backup PG, as KSmart mentioned, the other guys who can fill him in Monta, RWilliams play mostly at SG. It is not possible to give rest to Monta and Curry and also have them backup each other. When Monta and Curry goes off at the same time, RW backsup Monta and then who is going to backup Curry ? Hence I had put above Charlie Bell as the guy subbing Curry. How about one expiry to another, Vlad for TJ Ford ?

believewhat

Jules, also I think you need only 14 players on Contract not 15.

TheCity

Like the boy who cried wolf: meir says “Consider them my farewell posts.”

The only problem with that Meir is that you’ve “quit the blog” so many times, it’s not even funny. Your pattern is predictable – you post your usual, repetitive, bloviating shit on the blog. Over and over and over. You get called on it. You get hot under the collar. You threaten violence. You rage even more on the blog. You threaten to go find someone and hurt them. You get called on all that shit. You double down, and post even more on the blog, working yourself into an apoplectic state. You try appealing to Adam. You rage even more.

Finally, when none of your shit works, you decide you’re “going to show everyone” and quit – you throw the ultimate fit. You think your announcement that you will quit will shock the blog. You repeat (over and over) inanities such as “this is my last post” or “just one final thing” or ‘I would have left a long time ago but I had to answer another post.”

Finally, you disappear, maybe a for a day or two. It’s unknown whether you do this out of shame, or if your wife locks up your computer, or what.

Then you come back, a couple days later acting like the whole thing never happened and you start in again at the beginning of the cycle.

And how do I know this so well? Because we’ve all seen it dozens (if not hundreds) of times.

Meir, in all seriousness, you have to be the least self-aware person I’ve ever encountered.

…scotch

“Monta v Curry” ???????

Thought they were team mates???????

CURSE OF MULLIN

Hex of Mullin. What the hex?

Jules

believewhat, the Ws carried 15 players last year, and the year before, and the year before then……….

Other NBA teams also carry 15 players every year, as that’s what’s the norm…. not that Norm works there.

15 players – it is what it is.

It’s the NBA!

dr_john

nba teams must always carry at least 13 players under contract and not more than 15, not counting some exceptions.

10 day contracts don’t start until January. Some teams do carry only 13 or 14 players for a while if they’re keeping their options open (and seem to be healthy).

It hurts especially to carry those players (like Claxton and Bell) when the injuries accumulate.

If the league does not average 14 contracts they pay a penalty back and I don’t have a clue how this works with the escrow accounts etc. There’s a formula on some nearby planet.

KillJoy

This thread is dead.

KillJoy

Jeremy Lin: “I’m a Point Guard”

Keith Smart is still looking for a back up PG?

Apparently, the Dubs Coaching Staff aren’t well acquainted with their own players.

http://GoldenStateWarriorsStateofmind Frank

Monsta no.469: The Celtics played Havelchik at the sixth man, why would the Warriors not play Ellis as the sixth man?

JSL no. 475: The question is which player, Ellis or R.Williams , is more effective as the sixth man? I think Ellis should be coming off the bench, as he provides more instant offense then R. Williams. Although R. Williams can’t match Ellis driving to the hoop, I still think he is very good doing so and will make his shot or get to the foul line quite often.

A 3-man guard rotation of Curry, Ellis and R.Willams would be effective.

I agree it’s more important who on on the court at the end of the game.

And I agree with your assessment that if D.Wright and B. Wright play well this year they might well be on the court at the end of thet game, for the Warriors are not going to want to put poor foul shooters on the court, which eliminates both Biedrens and Amundson.

I think that Radman has really worked on his shooting over the summer, and it shows in training camp.

Son of Ahmed

I went over to the Kings Web site to see what’s happening with that team, and hope springs eternal there too. They have a lot of really nice new pieces there, and a very good young front line. Actually, that can be said of most of the Pacific Division teams. The Lakers, Clips, Warriors, and Kings are all pretty strong up front. What a difference a season makes. Poor Phoenix is going to get beat up against its bigger Pacific Division rivals.

The inward focus of training camp so often elicits irrational optimism. When looking at other teams, such as the Kings (Omri Casspi, DeMarcus Cousins, Samuel Dalembert, Tyreke Evans, Francisco Garcia, Donte Greene, Luther Head, Carl Landry, Jason Thompson, Beno Udrih, Hassan Whiteside) you begin to realize that our players will have to prove themselves night in and night out against other very talented rosters.

Handicapping the Western Conference is not easy. A lot of teams are on on the downswing, especially when you factor in age. Teams like San Antonio and Phoenix are getting up there. Then there are teams with a lot of great young talent like the Clips, Kings and Warriors. Talent wins in the NBA, but inexperience loses. So it’s not clear to me how things will shake out.

Not willing to stake anything on these predictions. Really more of a conversation starter. Too much can happen. I can see a team or two in the 3 through 7 range falling out, and I can see a team or two in the 8-13 range moving up. Real hard to handicap this season.

I have the Warriors in the 8 spot, but there’s a little sentimentality in that. Will be fun seeing how the pecking order is established as the season progresses.

http://realgm.com Sleepy51

Adam,
Do you have anything solid on the timing of Udoh’s injury? All the press reports on the injury indicated that it seemed to occur during Warriors workout activity (but I’m unclear if that was post draft.) You have reported this as a post-draft workout/pre-draft injury. Do you have anything firm on that which can be shared?

Adam Lauridsen

Sleepy,

Sorry — missed this due to it being off the current posts. My source on Udoh’s injury is the report by Rusty back around when it happened, backed by judgment calls following additional discussions/questions regarding the timing. There are conflicting reports on this one, so there’s no firm story one way or the other. I’m confident standing by what I wrote until I hear something firm on the other side to dissuade me. Not a direct answer to your question, I recognize, but hope it helps.

Adam

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